Wolfgang von Weisl's visit to Jeddah in1925/26

Wolfgang von Weisl's visit to Jeddah in 1925/26

Introduction:

Since I have started my quest in 2004 to search for photographs of Jeddah by early photographers I came across several names of Western travelers, orientalists and spies but never came across the name of Wolfgang von Weisl. It happened that during a visit to Leiden University in 2006 as part of this quest I have met Dr. Ronald E. Kon who became interested in my work. In one of his messages to me in 2007 he mentioned the name of von Weisl and sent me a scanned copies of the title page of his book and photos that presumably von Weisl has taken during his visit to Jeddah in the 1920s and published them in his book that was written in German. Since I have never heard of his name before I looked him up in Wikipedia:

Quote

Wolfgang von Weisl (1896 – 1974) was one of the founders of the Revisionist movement. He was a writer and a journalist, a physician and medical researcher, a military man and an original military strategist, an Austrian noble and a world expert in Islam.

Dr. Wolfgang von Weisl was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1896. His father, Dr. Ernst Von Weisl received the ennobling predicate "von" from Emperor Franz Josef.

von Weisl visited Jeddah in the 1920s and wrote a book in German titled:

Zwischen dem Teufel und dem Roten Meer. Fahrten und Abenteuer in Westarabien (Leipzig: Brockhaus 1928 (as on the titelpage, copyright 1927).
Unquote

It is not clear under what circumstances that von Weisl visited Jeddah, nor his declared, or real, intentions behind this visit. Answers to those questions may be found in his book but unfortunately we do not understand German. In a clarification of this issue, my friend from Leiden University in the Netherlands, Dr. Ronald E. Kon, has provided me with the following translation of von Weisl's introduction to his book:

"The introduction of the book says the following:

It is a report about the author’s trip to the Hidjaz, the Yemeni coast and Asir in 1925 and 1926 on behalf of the so-called “Ullstein Nachrichtendienst” [press agency], the Vossische Zeitung (Berlin), and the Neue Freie Presse (Vienna). He was able to meet lots of princes of Western Arabia: he mentions His Majesty King Abdul Aziz III. ibn Abdur Rahman Ibn Sa’ud, His Majesty the Honorary King Hussein, his Royal Highness emir Abdallah of Transjordan and is Highness imam Hassan of Asir, including his whole house.

He expresses his thanks to Jamal Pasha el-Ghazzi of Jizan, the British Consul in Jidda, Mr Myers, the French consul there, Ibrahim Depouy [if I read that name correctly], Mr Axelrod of Jidda (for, a.o., pictures and statistical material), and the publisher of Alif Ba, Mr El Issa of Damascus.

While travelling he used to dress in comfortable local clothes, did not smoke or drink alcohol in public/among Muslims. He grew a beard and a moustache. He adds that he did not carry any weapons! He never pretended to be a Muslim.

He expresses that he experienced a fascinating time. He longed back to what he called the strong, quiet and harmonious East. “Who has enjoyed the freedom of the desert and lived with Arabs,” he ends his introduction, “will always long to spend more time with them.”

Signed and dated by the author, Dr. Wolfgang von Weisl, at Berlin in September 1927, “before my leave for India”."

Following are some photos that were published in von Weisl's book presumably taken by him, except the first one. All first 5 photos were taken in Jeddah but the 6th photo was taken in Arafat on Haj Day, an area that is out of bound for non-Muslims.

Photo 1- von Weisl in an Arab costume with the Alireza (Saqqaf) complex in the background

Photo 2 - Residence of Abdullah Al Fadl to the left and an Alireza property to the right facing east overlooking the Kindasah (condenser) yard.

Photo 3 - Old Jeddah port with Al-Bughdadi house in the background.

Photo 4 - The Egyptian Mihmal outside the port.

Photo 5 - Barahat França in Al-Sham District (East of the French Consulate)

Photo 6 - Pilgrims standing on Al Rahmah (Mercy) Mount in Arafat on Haj Day.